Re: lexicon

Quoting Nik Taylor <yonjuuni@...>:

> Sally Caves wrote:
> > What would be the difference in Teonaht between a
> > governor and a ruler?
>
> Classical Uatakassi has only "tigladiz" (note the feminine gender,
> masculine wouldn't occur :-)) for any kind of ruler, likewise, only
> "uakitani" for any kind of state, ranging from a tiny confederation of
> villages to a massive empire, and from an absolute monarchy to a
> voluntary federation, and only one word for a subdivision of said
> state,
> "ualaakitani" (lit "unit of a state"), which could mean "county",
> "province", etc.  There's also "uabiitani" for any inhabitation, from
> a
> tiny hamlet to a booming metropolis.
Tairezazh has _krazol_ for state. Etymologically, this is a dimunitive, the
reason being that the modern Tshánaian states are pretty tiny compared to the
old Federation. However, nobody any longer feel that it connotes smallness,
and there's indeed a more recent formation for "statelet" - _dinkrazol_. To
describe a state in a bit more detail, one can use words like
_zhrishkergast_ "democracy", _elkergast_ "empire, monarchy" or
_blankergast_ "militocracy"*, or words like _tshavun_ "federation" and
_gravun_, which does not appear to have a good English counterpart - it means
a state consisting of a number of conquered regions ruled from a central core.

For subdivisions of a state, there are among others _farz_ "province"
(encompassing several planets) and _veint_ "city, commune, county". A planet
_telest_, is pretty much invariably an administrative unit.

Taireza's highest office is that of the _Goltsek Zdaki Krazan_,
lit "Chairperson of the State Council" - I usually translate as "prime
minister". The shorter inofficial version _Golkrazdakian_ "Head State
Councillor" is usually prefer in anything but highly formal contexts. Beneath
the _Golkrazdakian_ comes a number of mere _Zdakianen Krazan_ "State
Councillors", more commonly known as _Krazdakianen_ - I usually
translate "ministers". This terminology tend to be mercilessly applied to
foreign governments of republican kinds too, while there are are number of
terms for monarchs; _brak_ "prince, king", _elko_ "emperor", _elka_ "empress".
The members of the old Federation's "parliamet" - the _Taiksa Zdaku
Telestenâ_, or "Great Council of Planets" - are known as
_Taigzdakianen_ "Great Councillors", which is a source of confusion, since
their function more resembled that of modern Tairezan _Zhreizhen
Telen_ "Planetary Representatives" - essentially MPs.

*By which I mean a state run by the military. I dunno if this word is to be
found in any English lexicon.

                                                            Andreas

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